


Halloween 1985

by teej_318



Series: Promptober 2019 [7]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Fluff, Friends separated, Halloween 1985, M/M, Mike Wheeler misses Will Byers, Sad Mike Wheeler, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Will Byers misses Mike Wheeler, crazy together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2021-01-16 02:00:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21263246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teej_318/pseuds/teej_318
Summary: Inspired bythisTumblr post, it's the first Halloween since the Byers family moved out of Hawkins. Mike Wheeler is not happy about not getting to see his best friend on his favorite holiday and can't get into the Halloween spirit.





	Halloween 1985

_October 31, 1985_

"Come on, Mike, you don't want to be late for school!" Karen shouted up the stairs in the direction of Mike's bedroom.

"That's what you think," Mike muttered under his breath before he picked up his backpack and walked out of his bedroom. He hurried down the stairs and grabbed his jacket that was waiting for him on the stair rail.

Karen frowned at Mike when she saw him.

"Where's your costume, Mike?" she asked.

Mike sighed quietly before he answered.

"I didn't really feel like dressing up this year," he replied, trying to keep the bitterness out of his tone.

"Are you feeling okay, honey?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Mom. I just didn't want to dress up this year. It's fine, really. Skipping one year isn't that big of a deal."

"All right, well you have a good day at school. I'll see you tonight, yeah?"

"Yeah, I'll be back before the trick or treaters come by," Mike said. "I don't really feel like doing anything tonight, so I think I'll stay in."

"Okay, sweetie. See you later."

* * *

Mike sighed when he saw his friends gathered at Dustin's locker, all of them dressed up in costumes. Apparently skipping costumes was just a thing that happened last year because every student seemed to be dressed up at school. Dustin was dressed as The Terminator, complete with dark sunglasses, while Lucas and Max had gone as Lando Calrissian and Leia, despite the two characters never going out on screen together. Mike felt out of place in his regular sweater and jeans, but pressed on toward his friends. As Mike expected, his friend's eyes widened when they saw him.

"Whoa, Mike, where's your costume?" Dustin asked.

Mike shrugged, not wanting to get into this topic so early in the day.

"Mike?" said Lucas. "You okay? You always dress up for Halloween."

Mike shrugged again and still didn't say anything.

"Are you okay?" Max asked gently.

"I'm fine," Mike said in a rather heavy voice. "I just didn't feel like dressing up this year. It's nothing, guys."

"What about us hanging out tonight?" said Lucas. "I thought we were all gonna be dressed up tonight when we watch movies at my house."

"Um, I don't really think I can tonight, guys. I'm really sorry."

"What the hell, Mike? Why are you blowing us off like this?" Dustin asked, frowning at Mike.

Tears welled in Mike's eyes and he hung his head in shame.

"I'm sorry," Mike whispered in a shaky voice before he turned and walked away, ignoring the pleas of his friends.

"What's going on with him?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah, he's never like this on Halloween!" added Dustin.

"Oh come _on_, you guys can't seriously be that dense, can you?" Max exclaimed, exasperated.

Dustin and Lucas exchanged a look before shrugging at each other and facing Max with blank expressions on their faces.

"God, sometimes I wonder why I'm friends with you dinguses," Max sighed. "Hey, I like the sound of that. Robyn was right: I should use that word more often." Max shook her head as she glared at Dustin and Lucas. "Do you guys not realize that this is Mike's first Halloween without Will? He hasn't spent Halloween doing things without Will in 10 years! Can't you understand how sad he is? Not having Will here today, of all days? I mean, shit, you guys saw how he was last year with Will."

The looks on Dustin and Lucas' faces changed as they absorbed this information and thought about how protective Mike was of Will the previous year. They remembered that Mike wouldn't even let them help with Will when he had his episode.

"Whoa, I guess you're right," said Dustin.

"He must be feeling pretty upset," added Lucas. "I can't believe I didn't think about it."

"Yeah, well, thanks for joining the rest of us who have eyes," said Max. "Now, don't be upset or anything, but I think it's a good idea if we just leave Mike alone today. I don't think he wants to talk about it with us, and we have to give him the space he deserves. If he wants to be alone tonight, I think we should let him."

"But we always hang out on Halloween!" Lucas protested.

Max stared daggers at him.

"If we're going to be good friends, then we need to give him whatever space he wants," Max said. "I'm putting my foot down on this, guys. Trust me, it's better if we just leave Mike alone and let him come to us."

* * *

Mike hurried to the front door when the doorbell rang. He was carrying a large bowl of candy that was still pretty full; most of the trick or treaters hadn't started going for candy yet. Mike opened the front door and felt his breath stop in his throat.

Four boys were standing at his door, wearing Ghostbusters costumes just like he had with Will, Dustin and Lucas the year before. Mike froze for a moment as the boys shouted "Trick or treat!" and held out their candy bags for him. Mike simply stared at them for a moment as the boys frowned at him before he snapped out of his trance and hurriedly gave them their candy.

"Happy Halloween," Mike said in a flat voice to the boy wearing a Egon Spengler costume, just like Will had a year ago. The boy even looked kinda like Will in that he was the shortest of the four boys and appeared to be the youngest.

Once they had their candy, the four boys thanked Mike and turned and walked off the porch. Mike stared after them for a few seconds before he went back inside.

"They have good costumes, sweetie?" Karen asked from the living room where she was watching a movie on TV with Holly.

"Yeah," Mike said distractedly. "Um, Nance?" he asked his sister, who was in the hallway leading to the kitchen. "Can you take over for a minute?"

"Sure, Mike," Nancy said, walking over to the stand where Mike had set the bowl. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just need a minute," Mike said as he walked into the kitchen and pried the basement door open and hurried downstairs.

When he finally reached the old D&D table, the tears came falling down Mike's face. He sobbed into his hands as he sat down on the sofa, where Will's binder of drawings was sitting. When Mike was done, he picked up the binder and started to go through it, smiling and crying lightly at the drawings.

After about ten minutes, Mike heard the phone ringing, but ignored it. It stopped ringing after two rings and Mike focused his attention on the drawings again. A few moments later, Mike heard the door to the basement open.

"Mike, it's for you!" Nancy called down the stairs. "It's Will!"

As if a stimulant was zapping through him, Mike leapt up from the couch and hurried over to the phone. He yanked it off the receiver and put the phone up to his ear.

"Will?" Mike said breathlessly.

"Hey, Mikey, Happy Halloween!" Will exclaimed.

"Yeah, you too, Willie," Mike said in a somewhat reserved voice.

"Did you have a good time today? Did you dress up?"

"Um, yeah, I guess it was okay. I, uh, didn't really feel like dressing up this year."

As he spoke, Mike started to cry and he groaned slightly as he tried to avoid letting Will hear that he was crying.

"Hey, are you okay?" Will asked in a gentle voice. "Are you crying, Mike? What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry, Will," Mike replied as he kept crying. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, you don't have to apologize, Mikey. It's okay. Is something wrong? Did something happen?"

Mike wiped away the last of his tears and cleared his throat.

"No, it was nothing like that. It's just...I miss you so much, Willie."

"Oh, Mikey. I miss you, too."

"I haven't spent Halloween without you since I was 4, Will. It didn't feel right without you being here."

"I know, Mikey. It felt weird not dressing up at school with you and the guys. El and I didn't dress up at school, but we are now. She's going as Laurie Strode, and I'm Luke Skywalker."

"I bet you guys look great," Mike said, smiling slightly to himself. "You'll have to have your Mom send me a picture of you guys in your costumes."

"She's already on it," Will said before he paused. "Oh, it sounds like someone is here to get candy, so I'll have to go, Mike. But I just wanted to tell you Happy Halloween and let you know I've been thinking of you all day."

"Me, too, Willie. I miss you so much. Crazy together, always."

"I miss you, too, Mikey. Crazy together, always."

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this little one-shot. I wasn't originally planning on writing any more Promptober pieces after the one I wrote earlier today, but I saw the post on Tumblr about Mike not being in the mood for Halloween during the first year since the Byers family moved and I just had to write it.
> 
> Tonight at midnight, I start my NaNoWriMo 2019 project, Shipboard Romance, will be be a Byeler, Elmax, Jopper, Jancy and (platonic) Henclair story. I'll be writing it all through November and start publishing it in 2020. Stay tuned!
> 
> Come yell at/follow me on Tumblr: [@wackywriterwhowriteswhenever](http://wackywriterwhowriteswhenever.tumblr.com)
> 
> You can also follow me [on Twitter](http://twitter.com/_tj_rigg) but just know that I'm super political on there, so don't follow me if you don't like politics.


End file.
